Nuclear Technician

[hamirick]

ddickey,

Thank you. i will take your advice!

[Naysayer1203]

I never attended Linn State so I can't speak to their number of graduates in a given year vs how many of said graduates were hired.  What I can tell you is that over the last 3 years, we have hired 7 new RPT's of which 5 of them were Linn State grads.

[cheme09]

I do understand gigo. I'm also trying to be more specific in my questions. I am most interested in I&C,

There was a post recently talking about I&C and if doing unrelated work as a nuclear badged employee would help that person transfer into the I&C group.  See if you can find it.  The bottom line was that to get into I&C, either a tech degree in I&C or experience in either non-nuclear or nuclear I&C (preferablly both) would be the best bet.

The general idea that working at a nuclear plant as a badged employee will help you transfer to other departments should be taken lightly.  It really only works for certain departments.  For something like I&C generally need to already have the prerequisite knowledge and/or experience. 

[hamirick]

I never attended Linn State so I can't speak to their number of graduates in a given year vs how many of said graduates were hired.  What I can tell you is that over the last 3 years, we have hired 7 new RPT's of which 5 of them were Linn State grads.

I appreciate the information. I will be sure to ask about the specific numbers as well.

There was a post recently talking about I&C and if doing unrelated work as a nuclear badged employee would help that person transfer into the I&C group.  See if you can find it.  The bottom line was that to get into I&C, either a tech degree in I&C or experience in either non-nuclear or nuclear I&C (preferablly both) would be the best bet.

The general idea that working at a nuclear plant as a badged employee will help you transfer to other departments should be taken lightly.  It really only works for certain departments.  For something like I&C generally need to already have the prerequisite knowledge and/or experience. 

I will look for that now. I will take that lightly. From what I can find, I may be better off taking an I&C job outside of an NPP to get the experience required. That of course would not be preferred, but is an option.

Thank you both for your help.

[hamirick]

If anyone else was curious, Linn State gave me the following numbers for their Nuclear Technology:
Overall Placement-90% Related to Education-79%

Thanks.

[shipoffools]

Maybe you saw the "nuclear technician" posting on southern company's jobsite - that's the only place I recall seeing that particular job title.  As others have touched on, I believe that was an entry level position geared toward those with Associate degrees in relevant areas.  After the nuclear program was developed at Augusta Tech, I imagine the grads who were hired started in that role.  Don't take this as gospel, but from what I remember of that posting, after an introductory period the "nuclear technician" moves into a specific department at the site, presumably based on the employee's interest and training, and company's need (I&C, Electrical Maintenance, Ops, etc).  The starting salary was in the n'hood of $17/hr - I'm sure someone familiar with SoCo will chime in if this is in the ballpark or not. 

Where in Cola SC are you going to be taking I&C classes? 

[hamsamich]

Some of those placement numbers may include temporary contract positions, which is a good way to get your foot in the door.  These positions can be called different things by the many nuclear power plants out there.

FME Worker, Laborer, Junior Deconner, Deconner, Maintenance Helper, Fire Watch, Junior RP, Junior HP. There are others.

I don't think anybody is trying to feed you bad info, but you should have said straight up you would do anything.  It sounded like in your original post you were targeting something specific but didn't know the name of it.

Try searching nukeworker: entry level, foot in the door, junior, deconner, begin with all forms of the word (ing, er), see above.  Companies that do this are Bartlett, Atlantic, Shaw.

It is really hard to get a full time entry level job at a nuclear power plant right now unless qualified or you know someone.  Much easier to get a contract position, but you have to work at it. 

This info is on nukeworker.  Some people on here do like an open forum but it would be a much more helpful if you took a look at what others have posted first.  That would make it easier to help you, and you will get more out of it too.   Maybe you did do some research, but your questions don't indicate that.

[Content1]

You might have noticed many of the responses were less than helpful. This is a very competitive industry and they want people joining who are pretty much "self-starters" and are thorough in their personal research prior to posting at this website. There are numerous posts on how to get into the industry people expect for you to have read them thoroughly prior to asking questions. There are two-year programs out there but they don't guarantee you a job. Many people in the industry have come from other fields so they can draw on the knowledge base they have learned in previous professions. On the road I have met many ex-teachers, policemen, former Navy nuclear personnel, electricians and other professionals. They left their other jobs to the quest for "low hanging fruit" or a job they are overqualified for, but it pays well.  I was a special education teacher, I have been to law school and I am an ex-navy nuke.  If you come from a web developer background you have a long way to go.  Nowadays the industry wants to invest in as little training is possible for the worker. It may be wiser to seek the growth industries like natural gas operations or solar power developers. The other method is is to have friends already in the business who have enough pull of their own who know what the new jobs are and what it takes to get in. Good luck in your pursuits.

[Fermi2]

My favorite part is a Teacher or Lawyer being overqualified for a job in the nuclear industry.

[hamirick]

Thank you for the great replies.

I am traveling to Linn State November 8th and will get as much information as possible.

I also am looking into natural gas industry jobs. It seems they have about 7.5x the workforce as NPPs. I will post back here in a few weeks and let everyone know how the Linn State tour went. I also have a personal meeting with the lead instructor and will be asking him specific placement questions.

Thank you all again, and I apologize for my initial postings not being very specific or having previous answers.

If you guys (NPP employees) had it to over again, how many of you would pick the same career path?

[hamsamich]

I think I would....but not 100%.

[UncaBuffalo]

If you guys (NPP employees) had it to over again, how many of you would pick the same career path?

Nuclear power has been very good to me.  

If I had it to do over again, I would still do nuclear power, but would have swapped over to I&C sooner.

Good luck.